More Than 20 Princeton Basements Flooded During Recent Storm

The Princeton Fire Department responded to calls for help at about 15 homes that were severely flooded during the storm on July 30. About ten more homes were also flooded, but the homeowners did not call on the fire department for help. Several homeowners told Planet Princeton they had to replace their furnaces and central air units.

There was also a fire at a home on Edgehill that was caused by water shorting the electrical system in the home, Princeton Land Use Engineer Jack West told the Princeton Council on Monday night.

Seven motorists were rescued from vehicles in Princeton during the storm, including three motorists on University Place near Alexander Street, West said.

Princeton received almost six inches of rain in two or three hours.

“The storm sewer system just couldn’t handle that much rain in that short a duration,” West said. “One of the issues the engineering department is dealing with now is, we are concerned that the system is inadequate. Going forward we are going to have to start addressing it.”

West said both the intensity of storms and the frequency have been increasing. “Intense storms are happening more often. It seems to be every year now we are getting storm where there is flooding,” he said.

“How do we address some of these problems?” West said. “Do we want to address them? Is there a solution and how do we fund it?”

West said he expected a lot more drainage complaints in areas where teardowns have replaced older homes. “We didn’t receive them,” he said. “It seems a lot of the drainage work done in coordination with teardowns seems to have worked.”